So, the very first Philips tape recorder started what later has been christened a "shoebox" format, here is a later version from Radioshack: During the late 1960s - eary 1970s cassette tape recorders / decks used top loading, like this TEAC deck, does this form-factor have a name besides "top-loading deck"? Then hi-fi component decks moved to front-loading format, we all know what it looks like. The "boomboxes" and "ghetto-blasters" had an upright form-factor: There were some with detachable speakers, do they have a separate name? It looks that this was the prevalent format for a portable cassette tape recorder in the U.S. But in Europe, at least in the mid-1970s, there were models similar to top-loader cassette decks, but simpler and portable. This form-factor was also popular in Eastern Europe well into the 1980s. They often had just one speaker, although some had stereo head and stereo output. Here is Telefunken MC 500 And this is a Grundig C100L (it records on a cassette that is slightly different from Compact Cassette, but this is not the point). Soviet Electronika-302: Soviet Vesna-202: Hey, what do you know, the Japanese made these too, this is Sanyo M-A5LL, although radiomuseum.org says that it is "for language training. Variable tape speed", not for music. Question: does the above form-factor has a name? This does not look serious enough for a boombox much less for a ghetto blaster. But it is larger than a shoebox. What do you call it? The 18-page (so far) thread has only a few tape recorders in this format, like the AIWA TP-707, or Concord machines from the late 1960s, which look very rudimentary.
it‘s simply a „cassette tape recorder“ those were units for daily use, not to present a certain lifestyle, so theyy didn‘t need to be promoted in a special way. do you collect this format only ? if yes: please introduce us in your collection !
I can't believe in such injustice. They all were for daily use. Ghetto blasters just happen to look like a suitcase with a big handle because they were meant to be carried around like a suitcase and blast loud music. Form follows function. The machines pictured above are more modest, just like this one, the Sony CFM-140. It does not present some special lifestyle either. BTW, does this form-factor has a name? Upright, but small, with one speaker? It does not seem large enough to be called a "boombox" either. It seems that this top-loading form-factor was used in the U.S. for organizations like schools and libraries. Check out this guy, EIKI-7070A, "Classroom Audio Center CD & Tape Player /Recorder", they were making these in the early 2000s, although it looks like it came from the early 1980s. But this guy is slightly bigger than those units I posted above, not really usable on the go. And this is EIKI-5090A, this one looks very similar to those German and Soviet models, but again, this is a machine for use in schools: Soviet Sonata-213C:
hahaha, "injustice" is relative ;-) when you look at portable stereo cassette players, it happened in 1979, that the well known japanese brand with the 4 letters (beginning with an S) printed the name "Walkman" on one of their units and besides starting a new "wave", they created a nef lifestyle. what we call "boombox" or "ghettoblaster" also started a wave/lifestyle, but those names were never registered. so a stereo radio cassette recorder with or without removable speakers are called "boombox" or "ghettoblaster", same way as a flat little two-seater without a fixed roof is called a "roadster". anything else is a Walkman, a Cloneman (http://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/my-tps-l2-clones-westman-so-far.331/page-6#post-46273) or however the maker called it - or even just a plain "cassette tape recorder", "enregisteur de cassette", "kassettenrecorder"... the little Sony you posted last is a plain cassette recorder with radio but is allowed to be called a boombox, because it fits in the same collection (...if you want)
"the little Sony you posted last is a plain cassette recorder with radio but is allowed to be called a boombox" - you don't think it is too small for a boombox? Anyway, I was just wondering what other monikers besides "shoebox" and "boombox" are out there. Cheers!
I've got a handful of those models, there's a thread around here somewhere and they have their own niche. From what I can guess they were marketed to the executive that wanted the convenience of a portable but would use it on their desk. They would also have been a competitor to the dictation microcassette format. Some of the models were used in schools but I know nothing about that market, we never had them in my schools. Most are really nice with very solid build quality and are sought after, the Sony TC-150 still goes for decent money. The ones I like the best have a radio and most have a analog meter on them for battery and recording levels. Some do have stereo heads, but need an external speaker, but most only record in mono. As far as a name, I don't think the manufacturers ever had a name, boomboxes in Japan are still called "Radio Cassettes" over there and even when you search them out, most people don't know what your talking about. Walkman is a good way to ask for the portable players but "personal portable" stereo might be found more in catalogs. Boomboxes with a center control and two speakers are generally considered "three-piecers," if they have several pieces like an amp, tuner, etc and speakers they are usually called "compos" for (portable) component stereos, I think AIWA might have started that trend, too bad they didn't have the foresight to trademark it. Remember also that all this equipment was fresh and new, obviously they loved design back then, there's millions of different looking audio systems and any style was game. The popular ideas stuck and some of the others went away or took niche rolls; top loading cassette decks disappeared overnight when front loading came out. I think stereo guys were also happy, now they could put their turntable on top of the stereo stack.
The Sanyo M-A5LL and the Sony TC-150 are a bit smaller than the format I was particularly curious about. The EIKI-5090A is slightly on the larger side. Seems this form-factor was not popular in the U.S., but was wondering whether it had a nickname. Got it about "three-piecers" and "compos". Any other nicknames you know? Like "Cobra" for certain later Panasonic models.
Nowadays the term Boombox tends to be universally used because of the negative connotations of "Ghetto Blaster". We probably all know what Speck thought of the guy with one on the bus of course James Bond had the worlds only true Ghetto Blaster Back to more serious names. There is a whole category referred to as Eggs. Often fitted with CD players most were quite small but the largest could rival the sound of the best boxes from the 1980s. Despite that many collectors dislike them as the chrome trim and imposing looks on earlier boxes turned into an, inevitably black, amorphous blob. http://www.stereo2go.com/topic/index.php?board_oid=193392314111653340&content_oid=295996858637003984 A term you might hear is the Wedge. Some later Panasonics adopted that shape. Occasionally a Manufacturer came up with a completely new shape. This was definitely the case of the JVC Kaboom with its circular shape holding end firing woofers. I think it would be true to say there are JVC Kabooms and Kaboom imitations. Finally a term I have used for the rubbish they sell in Aldi, usually just before Fathers day, is a Squeakbox. They certainly don't deserve the term Boombox
Another one of the "toploader portables", again seems intended for a use in school or some other organization, there are a bunch of headphone outputs on the right.
now the name „ghettoblaster“ implies two things: Ghetto - run-down area of town for an ethnic minority. Blast - make a very loud noise. it nowhere mentions a certain ethnical minority, so in my eyes there‘s actually „ghettos“ for everybody - no matter colour, gender, origin etc. etc. and they all got the right to „blast“ in our modern world we should stop in general to classify people according to skin color, origin, education, earnings, belief or whatever, then we no longer need to worry about the "political correctness" of individual words. the core message that has been given to all of us humans is anyway: love each other
"Ghetto - run-down area of town for an ethnic minority." — Does not look run-down to me. "They all got the right to „blast“" — no, playing loud music in a public space is invasion into other people's personal space. Walkman was a timely answer of an affluent* city dweller to ghetto blasters, it was the way to distance oneself from the outside world with its cacophony of intrusive noises. This social distancing has only increased with proliferation of smartphones. * First walkman was sold for $200 in 1979, this is $760 in today's money.
People are forgetting the effects of "gentrification" especially in city centres. For a long time I have been looking for a picture of a young Madonna with a JVC RC-550 with a bent aerial back from when she was a dance student living in New York making her money from dodgy photographs. I did find a similar picture of her with a Sanyo. http://arnoancel.free.fr/index.php/808people/music-forever/ along with a load of other historic photos very different from the one CDV posted above. Nowadays students can only afford to live in town centres if their parents are loaded and they are prepared to live in a purpose built Student flat the size of a shoebox. p.s. It has always amused me that Bang & Olufsen made what most people would now call a Boombox. You don't get a brand more upper class than B&O. For some reason I am now thinking of one of Pulp's most famous songs.
Ghetto is derived from an Italian word, to describe where they would force Jews to live. So it has always carried a meaning of "forced", not somewhere you live by choice. It wouldn't really be correct to call a poor white Christian neighborhood a "ghetto", because it was extremely rare in history for white people to be forced to live somewhere. But in America, it was legal to force black people to live in certain neighborhoods until 1968, and even then it still continued to happen (just not "legally"). And yet, something is lost in culture when nobody shares their music anymore. Nobody talks to anyone. Nobody cares. They just keep to themselves, listening to their algorithm-chosen music on their low-quality bluetooth earbuds.................oblivious to the world. They aren't exposed to different music and different cultures, because they only listen to what they want to hear. We're becoming machines.
There is a difference between enjoying live instruments playing at a Sunday market and being disturbed by someone's loud music while taking a quiet rest in a park.
Why are live instruments better? Surely there must be someone who would rather listen to something else. When a group of friends meets at a park or beach, they're most likely going to blast some music. Especially if they're young. If other people don't like it, they're free to go somewhere else, or play their own music to drown out the other stuff. It's just like apartment life. Just because one of the tenants is a bookworm who never listens to music or makes any noise whatsoever, doesn't mean he has the right to demand his upstairs neighbor live the same way.
